New Brexit plan flopping, May faces calls to resign

From Missy:

Theresa May is under growing pressure tonight. It is reported that Theresa May is facing 3 seperate coup attempts tonight. There is incredible anger in the Conservative party over her offer of a Second Referendum, she has now broken every last promise and gone back on her word at every point.

A succession of Cabinet Ministers are expected to have one-on-one meetings with the PM today to tell her not to put her new Brexit deal to the vote, this is seen as tantamount to telling her to quit. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, and David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary are believed to be the first to go to the PM telling her they will not support the deal.

A delegation of junior ministers has told the chief whip they will resign if the new Brexit deal goes to the vote. It is unknown how many are in this delegation, but it is speculated that it includes Remainers and Brexit supporters alike, neither are happy wiht this deal as it is seen as appeasing the Labour Party.

Finally, the 1922 committee are meeting tonight to again discuss changing the rules to reduce the time between confidence votes from 12 months to 6 months.

On top of this Macron today has backed Michel Barnier for the position of European Commission President when it comes up after Juncker’s term ends later this year, and he has also said that he will not allow a further extension to Brexit, (though he said this last time and ended up voting for the extension).

Cabinet sources are reporting that May will most likely resign on Monday in a podium moment, after the final results for the EU elections are in. Note: Monday is the early summer Bank Holiday in the UK, so if she is going to make an announcement it may be delayed until Tuesday.

Just a note on the EU elections. Due to different voting days across Europe, and the Proportional nature of the votes the results won’t be known until late on Sunday evening, but it is expected to be a humiliation for the Conservatives, especially after May’s revised Brexit agreement.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was under growing pressure to resign on Wednesday after her final Brexit gambit was rejected across the board by lawmakers and even criticized by some of her own ministers.

May’s future, which she herself had curtailed by offering to resign to get her deal through parliament, was hanging by a thread after she softened her position on a second Brexit referendum and customs arrangements with the European Union.

The calls for her resignation further deepened Britain’s Brexit crisis. Almost three years since Britain voted to leave the EU and just under two months after the scheduled departure, it is not clear when, how or even if Brexit will happen.

In her last pitch on Tuesday to get her divorce deal approved by Britain’s deeply divided parliament, she offered lawmakers a vote on whether to hold a second Brexit referendum — once her legislation passes the first stage — as well as closer trading arrangements with the EU in future as incentives.

There were some signs of support for May in parliament, but swathes of empty Conservative benches during Wednesday’s debate underlined the fact that many of her fiercest critics had decided to stay away.

“The proposed second reading of the WAB is clearly doomed to failure so there really is no point wasting any more time on the prime minister’s forlorn hope of salvation,” Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative lawmaker, told Reuters. “She’s got to go.”

Several cabinet ministers have told the BBC that she cannot stay, with one saying it is “the end of the line”.

Others, though, insist Theresa May should push on with her plan to put her Withdrawal Agreement Bill to a vote.

Sources have told the BBC that the chief whip, Julian Smith, has informed backbench MPs that the prime minister is not resigning.

Nevertheless, the BBC’s political editor says it appears the government is almost at breakdown.

May’s government has seemed almost at breakdown for months as May has botched attempt after attempt at putting an acceptable Brexit plan to Parliament.

Having the referendum before any plan had been decided on has proven to be a disaster for Britain. And May’s leadership is proving to be another disaster on top of that.

The problem is, if May is deposed as Prime Minister what then? It’s hard to see how anyone could sort out this mess.

Updates from Missy:

The Chief Whip addressed the 1922 Committee, he apparently told them that the PM was not going tonight. He is also reported as saying that the PM will continue campaigning and is focussed on the EU elections.

The 1922 Committee completed their meeting with no decision made on changing the rules, again it seems they bottled it. It is being reported that the chair of the 1922 Committee will meet with Theresa May on Friday.

May has apparently refused to meet with senior members of the Cabinet today. It is unclear if she will meet with them this week.

9 Comments

Gezza

Just seems like an extraordinarily protracted political suicide from here. She must have absolutely zero political credibility now. Is she handing the next election to Corbyn because she seems to have wrecked the Conservative Party with all her dicking around.

Missy

Yes, it is a very protracted political suicide, and she is incredibly stubborn about leaving office.

She hasn’t had any political credibility for a long time now, but what is coming out is a lot more information around her incompetence, and reliance on mediocre advisers.

It is possible that she is handing the next election to Corbyn, though he is also losing credibility as he continues to prevaricate on his Brexit position. What she is doing is handing a lot of power to the Brexit Party – in the EU elections at the very least. It is hard to know how they would do in a General Election with the First Past the Post system, but some have said the polls indicate that they could become the kingmaker in a new election.

Duker

“Yes, it is a very protracted political suicide, and she is incredibly stubborn about leaving office.”

So she didnt leave office when ‘asked ‘ like Abbott and Turnbull were asked?

Leadsome is no replacement nor anyone of above average ability-previously Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs- shes really the creature of the City financial sector and just angling for a future job , this time in Cabinet, by creating a ruckus to try to get May out …yawn is it the 4th or 5th time someone the public hasnt heard of seems to leading an insurrection. yes the EU election results will be bad for the Tories – as if any one cares , they wont be getting much chance to even warm the seats

Missy

“Having the referendum before any plan had been decided on has proven to be a disaster for Britain. ”

Pete, the problem here is threefold:

1. Cameron and Co never believed that the people would vote to leave the EU and therefore did not do any preparation
2. May let herself be rushed into triggering Article 50 before having a coherent vision of what the UK wanted
3. No plan could be agreed to prior to the referendum as the terms of the EU treaty state no negotiations on the terms of leaving the EU can be entered into until Article 50 has been triggered, and then both parties have 2 years to complete the negotiation.

This was apparently a last minute addition to the Lisbon Treaty to comply with international law, but the intent was that it would never be triggered and need to be used.

yes, the UK made mistakes, but also the constraints by the EU treaty also played a part. Two years was never enough to negotiate terms of departure.

Duker

Did Britain have a ‘plan’ when they declared War on Germany? of course not .
Joining the EU has plans because many many countries have done it, the only one to leave was Greenland and hardly a way to follow.
Norway had a plan to join until at the last minute the people voted in a referendum not to , but they went ahead with a quasi EU membership.
Switzerland is half in – half out situation. They dont belong to EU, but are in Schengen borders deal , but not EU Customs union, so Customs still applies, but are like Norway part of the EFTA. UK was never in Schengen borders deal but as EU member was in Customs union area so no customs. Switzerland came to agreement recently about more integration with EU but signing on dotted line hasnt happened.

Missy

Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the House of Commons, has quit cabinet. This is widely seen as her positioning herself for the upcoming leadership contest. Leadsom hasn’t officially announced her intent to run for the leadership, though she has said she is seriously considering it.